With the support of our Agency, the 3rd Green Transformation and Sustainability in Industry Summit, organized by Konya Chamber of Industry (KSO) under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, in cooperation with Ekonomi Newspaper, was held with broad participation.

AK Party Konya MP Mustafa Hakan Özer, Konya Chamber of Industry President Mustafa Büyükeğen, KOSGEB Vice President Bilal Kendirci, AK Party Konya Provincial Chairman Hasan Angı, OSBÜK President Memiş Kütükcü, Mevlana Development Agency Secretary General Dr. İhsan Bostancı, representatives of public institutions and organizations, industrialists, and many guests attended the summit held at Selçuklu Congress Center.

Speaking at the opening of the summit, Konya Chamber of Industry President Mustafa Büyükeğen emphasized that green transformation in industry is of critical importance for both Turkey and Konya. Büyükeğen gave a strong message, saying, "Our Konya industry will not slow down in this transformation. We are ready to provide all necessary support."

"Konya industry is strong, ready for the future"

Konya Chamber of Industry President Mustafa Büyükeğen, emphasizing Konya's industrial strength in his opening speech at the summit, stated that the city is one of Turkey's leading industrial centers with its 12 organized industrial zones, more than 120 industrial sites, and hundreds of businesses producing in different sectors. Büyükeğen pointed out that Konya, which exports 3.3 billion dollars annually to 195 countries, is among the country's largest exporters in many sectors such as machinery, automotive industry, defense industry, and food. Providing information about the projects implemented by Konya Chamber of Industry in the green transformation process, President Büyükeğen said that they implemented the Energy Efficiency Mobile Audit Vehicle Project together with KOP Regional Development Administration Presidency and the Provincial Directorate of Industry and Technology, and that energy efficiency measurements were made in 62 firms and institutions with this vehicle. President Büyükeğen said, “With these measurements we made, we offered our firms an energy saving opportunity of 6,600 TEP, amounting to 6 million 152 thousand dollars annually. We also prevented 39 thousand 500 tons of carbon emissions annually. To ensure the sustainability of these efforts in the industry, we provided Energy Manager training to 21 personnel from the businesses where we conducted measurements.”

‘Industrial enterprises will be able to calculate their own carbon footprints for free’

Büyükeğen, announcing that as a Chamber, they have implemented the Konya Casting Cluster Green Transformation Ur-Ge Project with a budget of 5 million dollars for the casting sector, stated that in this project, they will contribute to the green transformation of 15 firms, reduce their carbon footprints, and support their transition to sustainable production methods. Stating that they have started a new Ur-Ge Project study for 15 new firms, Büyükeğen continued: “In addition to these, within the scope of the project we implemented together with our KOP Regional Development Administration and our Provincial Directorate of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, we have created a completely free platform where all our members can calculate and report their corporate carbon footprints in accordance with standards. The reports that our industrial enterprises will create on this platform will be verifiable reports. On this platform, which we launched as Ayakizi.org.tr, our members will not only be able to access up-to-date information about the green deal, but also have the opportunity to compare the devices and machines they will use in production with data such as energy efficiency and carbon footprint. We have also prioritized the twin transformation process, which includes the green transformation of our industrial enterprises, among our work areas. We have started to conduct the Digital Maturity Analysis of all our members free of charge for our industrialists to increase their competitiveness by digitalizing and reduce their carbon footprints. We will continue such efforts without interruption.”

Afterwards, Mevlana Development Agency Secretary General Dr. İhsan Bostancı, said, “Green transformation, green industry, green financing… We have started to hear these and similar concepts frequently, especially recently, and these concepts have now become a part of both our business life and our daily lives. In fact, these concepts have emerged as a result of the negative effects of climate change, which became more apparent especially in the 2000s, and the increasing risks to the future of our planet. Despite the depletion of natural resources, the destruction of nature and the environment as a result of the increasing world population, rapidly developing industry, and wrong agricultural practices has brought about climate change. At the heart of what needs to be done to minimize the effects of climate change, which has the potential to cause devastating consequences in almost every area of our lives, especially our daily lives, is the concept of “green transformation”. The green transformation process, which is harmonized with existing sustainable development initiatives in many countries, aims to develop cleaner growth sources such as green industries, green technologies, and green production models on the one hand, and includes the realization of structural changes related to the transition to a green economy on the other. It is now globally accepted that the current economic growth model is not sustainable in the long term and that a transition to a new economic system is necessary. From this point of view, we must implement green transformation, which is extremely important for both not falling behind in international competition and for the future of our country, in every stage of our production processes, and even make it a part of our economic and social life. As you know, the issue of global transition to a low-carbon economy within the scope of combating climate change envisages a radical transformation that will change people's lifestyles, production, and manufacturing methods. In short, the “Carbon Border Adjustment,” which can also be defined as the taxation of low-cost but high-emission products imported into the EU market according to their carbon intensity to protect EU producers whose production costs have increased due to environmental regulations from competition, closely concerns many sectors. It is on the agenda that the regulation, which started to be implemented in 2023 and is planned to be fully implemented in 2026, will initially focus on products with the highest carbon leakage risk; cement, iron-steel, aluminum, fertilizer, and energy sectors, and then be applied to all sectors. Serious efforts are being made to minimize the possible effects of climate change and carbon border adjustment. At the forefront of these efforts are the European Green Deal put forward by the EU and the Paris Climate Agreement adopted by the Turkish Grand National Assembly. Our country has set itself a net zero emission target for 2053 within the scope of this agreement and is implementing its prepared climate change action plans one by one in cooperation with public, private sector, and non-governmental organizations. The fact that our public, private sector, and non-governmental organizations are stakeholders in the Green Transformation and Sustainability in Industry Summit, held for the 3rd time this year, is a concrete example of this cooperation. I would like to express my belief that the presentations to be made by our panelists, all experts in their fields, within the scope of the summit, will open new horizons for all of us on green transformation. Our Ministry of Industry and Technology, to which Development Agencies are affiliated, also continues its work in the field with all relevant institutions and various incentive and support mechanisms designed for different needs to ensure the rapid and effective implementation of Green Transformation. We will get detailed information about the studies carried out on these issues in the panel sessions to be held shortly. On this occasion, I would like to briefly mention the work we have done as Mevlana Development Agency to ensure Green Transformation in our Region. MEVKA has mobilized an investment of 273 Million TL by providing approximately 105 Million TL support in current figures to 33 projects within the scope of support programs implemented for the dissemination of circular economy and increasing resource efficiency, primarily for green transformation. In addition, as an Agency, we have an ongoing technical support program announced to ensure the corporate, digital, and green transformations of our firms operating in the manufacturing industry in our region. We announced the successful projects for the 4th Term of this program last week. I would especially like to state in your presence that 11 of the 36 projects for which we completed the contract signing processes as of yesterday are aimed at the casting sector, which is one of the sectors most affected by the carbon border application in our province, and in this context, activities will be carried out for preparing energy audits of our firms and roadmaps for their green transformation processes. I would like to express that these projects to be implemented with the support of our Agency will be carried out in cooperation with our Konya Chamber of Industry and TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center within the scope of the protocols signed by our Agency, and I would also like to thank our Konya Chamber of Industry and TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center for their support. Another important study we consider in this regard is the Konya Provincial Green Deal Committee, established upon the proposal of our Agency to increase cooperation among institutions working in the field of green transformation in our region. The committee, which is an example of the joint working culture shown by our province in every field, continues its work by holding agenda-setting meetings at regular intervals with a focus on developing ecosystems in our province, improving them, and increasing the qualified human resources capacity of institutions, towards Turkey's “Net Zero” target. Before concluding my words; stating that as an Agency, our efforts to complete the green transformation processes of our SMEs in our region will continue and we are ready to do our part in this regard, I hope that the Summit, organized in cooperation with Konya Chamber of Industry and Ekonomi Newspaper under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, will bring benefits to our city, our region, and our country, and I would especially like to state that our Agency's efforts in this direction will continue to increase in the upcoming periods.”

Following the opening speeches, all processes of green transformation were discussed in 3 different sessions featuring expert names in their fields. In the first session titled ‘Green Transformation of Turkish Industry,’ moderated by Ekonomi Newspaper Chairman Hakan Güdağ,  Organized Industrial Zones Supreme Organization (OSBÜK) President Memiş Kütükcü, Konya Plain Project (KOP) Regional Development Administration President Murat Karakoyunlu, and Ministry of Industry and Technology Deputy Director General of Strategic Research and Productivity Hakan Erten expressed their views.

The second session, titled ‘Green Deal, Carbon Border Adjustment, and Its Impact on Industry,’ was moderated by TOBB Environment Manager Mert Kuleoğlu. In this session, Dr. Bilal Düzgün, Acting Head of the Energy Efficiency and Environment Department of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Eyüp Kaan Moralı, Head of the Carbon Pricing Department of the Climate Change Presidency, Mehmet Ergün, TSE Environmental Surveillance and Verification Manager, and Zehra Betül Pekergin, Mevlana Development Agency Economic Development Unit Expert, made their presentations.

In the third session themed ‘Green Finance, Investment, and Sustainability,’ moderated by Ekonomi Newspaper Editorial Director Handan Sema Ceylan, Yeşim Akçollu, World Bank Senior Manager for Infrastructure and Energy Sectors, Mehtap Altuğ, Sustainability and Environmental Social Impact Manager at a Turkish Development and Investment Bank, Melis Bitlis, Escarus Director at a Turkish Industrial Development Bank, and Firdevs Kılıç, KOSGEB Sustainability Supports Manager, shared the details of green finance with the audience.